The Kalamazoo Christian celebrates a win as the team's "lucky" toilet sits in the dugout during the game against Deerfield at the MSHAA quarterfinal at Bailey Park in Battle Creek, Mich., on Tuesday, June 10, 2014. The toilet, which the team found on the side of the road, symbolically represents them flushing away their past losses in order to move onto future victories. (AP Photo/The Grand Rapids Press, Katie Alaimo) ALL LOCAL TV OUT; LOCAL TV INTERNET OUT (Katie Alaimo)

Toilet is fixture in prep baseball team's dugout

Flush away bad play? Prep baseball team in Michigan makes tradition of carting toilet to games

Posted on June 11, 2014 at 10:12 a.m.

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan prep baseball team is trying to flush away the bad plays by making a tradition of carting a toilet to its games.

The former bathroom fixture has become a game day fixture in Kalamazoo Christian’s dugout, MLive.com reported (http://bit.ly/1jkpzmy ).

On Tuesday, as the team celebrated a 6-4 win over Britton Deerfield in the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 4 quarterfinals, players carried out the toilet to the surprise of many at Bailey Park in Battle Creek.

Andrew Long, a senior, explained the potty’s presence. He said last season the team had a miniature toilet that players would flush whenever they made a bad play to “flush down the bad memories.” This year, Long said a discarded toilet was found for the dugout.

“We brought it everywhere,” Long said.

Coach Steve Bennecke, who brought in the tiny toilet last season, said team members hope they’ll be able to harness its porcelain power to keep playing well. He said he was as surprised as anyone else when the team turned out earlier this season with the toilet.

“I didn’t know if this was a joke or if someone was making fun of us,” Bennecke said.

The Comets face Beal City on Friday in the semifinals at Michigan State University in East Lansing — and the potty is expected to join them.